Police identified the Connecticut man who died while skiing off-trail from Stowe Mountain Resort Saturday as Andrew Hryb.
Vermont State Police announced Monday that Hryb appeared to have died after he fell from an approximately 220-foot-tall cliff.
Hryb, 36, of Darien, Connecticut, and his brother, Alexander Hryb, 35 of Norwalk, Connecticut, became disoriented after they skied out of bounds from the ski area.
The brothers, who police described as “avid” skiers, traveled between 1.5 and 2 miles from the Sensation Quad chairlift at Spruce Peak. They were at an ice climbing route, known as Doug’s Route, when Andrew Hryb appeared to have lost his footing while looking over the edge of the cliff, police say.
Emergency responders began searching for the skiers after one of them made a call to 911 Saturday evening at 6:36 p.m.
Neil Van Dyke, search and rescue coordinator for the state Department of Public Safety, described the response as “one of the most difficult rescue operations I’ve experienced” to VT Ski + Ride.
According to VT Ski + Ride, rescuers located the skiers at around 8:30 p.m., but, challenged by the difficulty of the terrain, the operation concluded around 1:40 a.m. Sunday.
Local and state emergency responders, along with the Army Mountain Warfare School, conducted the operation. Alexander Hryb was rescued from the top of the cliff and was uninjured.
Police say Andrew Hryb’s death has been determined to be an accident.
